Preparedness for Elderly and Access and Functional

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  • Create a support network of family, friends and others who can assist you during an emergency, and share your disaster plans with them. Practice your plan with them.
    – Make sure they have an extra key to your home, know where you keep your emergency supplies and how to use lifesaving equipment or administer medicine.
  • If you undergo routine treatments administered by a clinic or hospital, find out their emergency plans and work with them to identify back-up service providers.
  • If you have a communication-related disability, note the best way to communicate with you.
  • Don’t forget your pets or service animals. Not all shelters accept pets, so plan for alternatives.
    – Consider loved ones or friends outside of your immediate area
    – Prepare an emergency kit for your pet
  • Be ready to explain to first responders that you need to evacuate and choose to go to a shelter with your family, service animal, caregiver, personal assistant, and your assistive technology devices and supplies.
  • Plan ahead for accessible transportation that you may need for evacuation or getting to a medical clinic. Work with local services, public transportation or paratransit to identify your local or private accessible transportation options.
  • Inform your support network where you keep your emergency supplies; you may want to consider giving one member a key to your house or apartment.
  • Contact your city or county government’s emergency management agency or office. Many local offices keep lists of people with disabilities, so they can be helped quickly in a sudden emergency.